Packing light at the parks

[Duckiedee]

Hey there... would love suggestions and tips.

We are travelling end Oct, begin Nov to WDW. Mom, Dad and five-year-old girl.

Just HOW light can you pack for the day? I like to pack as lightly as possible.

We do plan on returning to CSR right after lunch each day for a swim/rest. What are the necessities you must bring?

I know we'll need at least one refillable mug, hopefully we won't need to bring sunscreen to reapply... or maybe we will. Hats, possible rain gear, sweaters for some days. Money, passes and ID maybe. We are bringing an umbrella stroller/no basket. Is there anything you found essential that you were glad you had or anything you thought you needed and wished you had left home?

Do you have tips to avoid locker rental at Typhoon Lagoon? I've read about this, but where can you safety stow your stuff on slides etc?

Thanks for your tips!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Here's what we do:

We pack three bags. One for each child, and one for us to share. We take a few days worth of clothes, swimsuits, any meds we need, toothbrushes and paste, camera, extra batteries, cellphone charger. Maybe some breakfast stuff (pop-tarts or granola bars). That's about it. And a bookbag with few books and electronics to keep the kids happy on the trip.

In the parks:

Each person in the family carries their own cell phone and KTTW card.

I carry my wallet.

One person carries a small bag with: camera, batteries, sunscreen, tissues, 4 dollar store ponchos, and advil.

That's it.

In your case, someone should carry DD5's KTTW card.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

We carry hardly anything and we have 4 (soon to be 5 ) kids. This is our list pretty much.

One ziplock bag full of wipes.
A few diapers (you won't need these
Sunscreen
A camera
Park tickets and money

If the weather is bad we might take sweatjackets/raincoats.

Why would you take a refillable mug? You can't refill them at the parks.

 

[NHdisneylover]

We have not carried a bag in the parks since the kids were potty trained. As a PP mentioned you cannot refill the mug in the parks so i am also confused as to why you are taking that.

We take cell phones (on belt clips). DH keeps everyone's park tickets and the adult IDs in his wallet which he carries in his pocket. He takes everything else out of it except for a small amount of cash.

When the mornings/evenings are cool we have lightwieght jackets that we can tie around waists when not in use.

We have a very small camera which also goes on DH's belt.

Sunglasses are worn, or on top of our heads all day.

Sunscreen is usually okay for the day since we slather it on in the morning and gravitate towards shade all day. if it is really bright out I will throw a travel sized tube in a pocket.

We keep DS's inhaler in a pocket just in case. We do not carry his spacer (it is very bulky) normally, IF his astham is already acting up then we will. Either DH wears cargo shorts then to have a pocket big enough OR we do then carry a very small bag with the meds in them (luckily this has only been an issue one trip thus far).

I honestly do not see what else you would really need or want at the parks for putting in a bag. Perhaps rain ponchos (we just head for cover if it is chilly or enjoy the cool wetness if it is hot).

 

[ms_missy66]

DH carries his cell and wallet with KTTW, money, credits cards. I carry a tiny over-the-shoulder bag (it's literally four inches by three or so) that holds my cell, my KTTW and the kids', money, credit cards, small camera, tylenol and a band-aid or two. When we're traveling "heavier", we bring one backpack that holds our video camera, ponchos and lighted toys we whip out during night-time parades. That's pretty rare, though. I'm a fan of not being weighed down by a big bag if you're not trying to deal with diapers and extra clothes for really little ones.

 

[Perditamarie]

We carry hardly anything and we have 4 (soon to be 5 ) kids. This is our list pretty much.

One ziplock bag full of wipes.
A few diapers (you won't need these
Sunscreen
A camera
Park tickets and money

If the weather is bad we might take sweatjackets/raincoats.

Why would you take a refillable mug? You can't refill them at the parks.

I am going to whittle our park bag to something tiny...and also include refillable mugs carried on a carabiner or so. Can't quite figure the mugs out --- want to bring them to fill up as we leave/return to the resort, but not sure it is worth it to carry them all day....and if it is not convenient to carry them, it seems it would be better to skip them altogether. I always get stuck on umbrellas and mugs!!

 

[tink1969]

While you can't use the refillable mug for refills at the concessions, you can refill it with water at the fountains.
I personally have never done that but it was just a thought.

 

[growinupdisney]

There are 5 of us, We have 3 children dd2,dd15,ds13 the older ones carry a bag if they want but they have to keep up with. i bring a small back pack that i will sometimes wear or keep in stoller...we take meds, wipes,(dd is potty trained now so no diapers) poncos, snacks, if colder i take jackets, change of clothes for dd2. we also carry a small cooler that we store under stroller it holds water, insulin,juice. This cooler saves us about $50 a day vs buying drinks in the parks so we don't mind carrying it!!!

 

[katied]

DH carries his wallet and cellphone in his pockets.

I carry (for DH, myself and DS) in a bagglini style bag:
sunscreen
chapstick
camera
cell phone
spare battery for camera
park tickets & money
tissues
wipes/diapers in ziplock
ziplock with some snacks (just a couple, as I can always refill the ziplock during our afternoon break to the room).
IF its likely to rain, ziplock with the rain ponchos

The lightest I've gone is when we were just heading over the Epcot for dinner. That night, all I had was a small wallet, and a ziplock with the diapers and wipes in the bottom of the stroller.

 

[Duckiedee]

My bad - I didn't realize you only used the mugs at the resorts... Still learning!!!!

Thanks everyone for your insights!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

I carried a small light weight bag. We have 4 kids and really didn't need much in the parks. My bag consisted of:

My inhaler (asthma)
camera
our KTTW cards
travel size benadryl (we have had unexpected allergic reactions)
the kids autograph books and pens.
Ponchos if there was going to be rain

And that's about it. I charged everything to my KTTW card, so never needed to worry about money. The kids spending money was all in my bank account as well, so we only had to worry about that one KTTW card for charging! Very nice!